Space Shuttle

The original STS-35 artwork differed significantly from the A-B Emblem STS-35" souvenir patch. A number of close reproductions by Cape Kennedy Medals and others have come close, but not matching the original prototype. In 2016, A-B Emblem, when stock of the older STS-35 patch ran out, produced a new version on their newer machines that more faithfully reflects the original artwork and prototype. This is the version currently on sale at their web site (as of September 2016).

Mission objective was to deploy the TDRS-B communication satellite, cancelled due to IUS failure. Most of the crew would be reassigned to STS-51-D which flew in April 1985 (except for Patrick Baudry, who was re-assigned to STS-51-G which flew in June 1985).

This version of the TDRS-B patch is not a silk patch but was woven. Acquired from the estate of a TRW employee.

TDRS-6, known before launch as TDRS-F, is an American communications satellite which is operated by NASA as part of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System. It was constructed by TRW, and is based on a custom satellite bus which was used for all seven first generation TDRS satellites.

A Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) is a type of communications satellite that forms part of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) used by NASA and other United States government agencies for communications to and from independent "User Platforms" such as satellites, balloons, aircraft, and the International Space Station. This system was designed to replace a pre-existing worldwide network of ground stations that had supported all of NASA's manned flight missions and unmanned satellites in low-Earth orbits. The primary system design goal was to increase the amount of time that these spacecraft were in communication with the ground and improve the amount of data that could be transferred. These TDRSS satellites are all designed and built to be launched to and function in geosynchronous orbit, 35,786 kilometres (22,236 mi) above the surface of the Earth.
The first seven TDRSS satellites were built by the TRW corporation.

This version, acquired from the estate of a TRW employee, varies slightly from the more common TDRS-C patch. The "Flight" is in a sans font and there are multiple differences in the details and colors.

STS-76 was NASA's 76th Space Shuttle mission, and the 16th mission for Atlantis. STS-76 launched on 22 March 1996 at 3:13 am EST (UTC −5) from Kennedy Space Center launch pad 39B. STS-76 lasted over 9 days, traveled about 3,800,000 miles (6,100,000 km) while orbiting Earth an estimated 145 times, and landing at 5:28 am PST (UTC −8) on 31 March 1996 at Edwards Air Force Base runway 22.
The flight was the third Shuttle mission to dock with the Russian Space Station Mir, as part of the Shuttle-Mir Program, carrying astronaut Shanon Lucid to the orbital laboratory to replace NASA astronaut Norm Thagard. STS-76 also carried a SPACEHAB single module along with Lucid, and on flight day 6 Linda Godwin and Michael R. Clifford performed the first U.S. spacewalk around two docked spacecraft.

This patch was produced by Space Coast International and was carried on board STS-76 in the Official Flight Kit. It has some minor differences from the official A-B Emblem version, primarily in the Mir detail and extra set of solar panels.

STS-76 was NASA's 76th Space Shuttle mission, and the 16th mission for Atlantis. STS-76 launched on 22 March 1996 at 3:13 am EST (UTC −5) from Kennedy Space Center launch pad 39B. STS-76 lasted over 9 days, traveled about 3,800,000 miles (6,100,000 km) while orbiting Earth an estimated 145 times, and landing at 5:28 am PST (UTC −8) on 31 March 1996 at Edwards Air Force Base runway 22.
The flight was the third Shuttle mission to dock with the Russian Space Station Mir, as part of the Shuttle-Mir Program, carrying astronaut Shanon Lucid to the orbital laboratory to replace NASA astronaut Norm Thagard. STS-76 also carried a SPACEHAB single module along with Lucid, and on flight day 6 Linda Godwin and Michael R. Clifford performed the first U.S. spacewalk around two docked spacecraft.

This is the A-B Emblem prototype version of the STS-76 patch. It has white thread instead of black for the Mir details and an extra set of solar arrays. The stars have a black shadow, but do not appear behind the yellow contrails like in the souvenir version.

This is the first version of the Swissartex STS-51E patch, made when CNES astronaut Patrick Baudry was added as a payload specialist. The body was already designed so he was added as a tab. A later crew change added Ed Garn which necessitated another patch change. Rather than destroying the patches produced up to that time, it was decided that the main body could be preserved and the Baudry tab could simple be cut off and the new Baudry/Garn tab could be glued on to the body.

To date (2015) only 4 patches are known to have survived the removal of the tab and are in private collections.

The Hubble Space Telescope Orbiting Systems Test (HOST) platform is carrying experiments to validate components planned for installation during the third Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission and to evaluate new technologies in an earth orbiting environment. There are four experiments on the HOST platform. The NICMOS Cooling System will allow zero-g verification of a Reverse Turbo Brayton Cycle Cooler which should allow longer life operation than the current dewar system. (2) The HST 486 Computer will allow the identification of any radiation susceptible parts in the DF-224 replacement and demonstrate hardware and software responses to Single Event Upsets (SEU's). (3) Solid State Recorder will compare on-orbit operation of the flight spare solid state recorder with the current HST unit. (4) Fiber Optic Line Test will use the same 4 kbps data stream that is sent to the orbiter's Payload Data Interrogator (PDI) and will be routed to a laptop computer for post-flight comparison.

Wakata became the first Japanese astronaut to work on the assembly of the International Space Station during STS-92. The crew attached the Z1 truss and Pressurized Mating Adapter (PMA3) to the station using Discovery’s robotic arm. STS-92 prepared the station for its first resident crew.

The STS-85 crew suppoeted the Manipulator Flight Demonstration (MFD) experiment being sponsored by NASDA, the Japanese Space Agency. MFD consists of three separate experiments located on a support truss in the payload bay. The primary objective is to demonstrate the newly designed dexterous robot arm in the space environment, before installing on the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) of the International Space Station.

The primary payload on STS-83 was the Microgravity Science Laboratory (MSL). MSL was a collection of microgravity experiments housed inside a European Spacelab Long Module (LM).
MSL featured 19 materials science investigations in four major facilities. These facilities were the Large Isothermal Furnace, the EXpedite the PRocessing of Experiments to the Space Station (EXPRESS) Rack, the Electromagnetic Containerless Processing Facility (TEMPUS) and the Coarsening in Solid–Liquid Mixtures (CSLM) facility, the Droplet Combustion Experiment (DCE) and the Combustion Module-1 Facility. Additional technology experiments were to be performed in the Middeck Glovebox (MGBX) developed by the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and the High-Packed Digital Television (HI-PAC DTV) system was used to provide multi-channel real-time analog science video.

The Large Isothermal Furnace was developed by the Japanese Space Agency (NASDA) for the STS-47 Spacelab-J mission and was also flown on STS-65 IML-2 mission. It housed the measurement of diffusion coefficient by shear cell method experiment, the diffusion of liquid metals and alloys experiment, the diffusion in liquid led-tin-telluride experiment, the impurity diffusion in ionic melts experiment, the liquid phase sintering II experiment (LIF), and the diffusion processes in molten semiconductors experiment (DPIMS).

The STS-82 mission was the second in a series of planned servicing missions to the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope ("HST"), which had been placed in orbit on 24 April 1990 by Discovery during STS-31. The first servicing mission was done by Space Shuttle Endeavour on STS-61. Work performed by Discovery's crew significantly upgraded the scientific capabilities of the HST and helped to keep the telescope functioning smoothly until the next scheduled servicing missions, which were STS-103 in 1999 and STS-109 in 2002.

The STS-82 mission was the second in a series of planned servicing missions to the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope ("HST"), which had been placed in orbit on 24 April 1990 by Discovery during STS-31. The first servicing mission was done by Space Shuttle Endeavour on STS-61. Work performed by Discovery's crew significantly upgraded the scientific capabilities of the HST and helped to keep the telescope functioning smoothly until the next scheduled servicing missions, which were STS-103 in 1999 and STS-109 in 2002.

STS-70 was the 21st flight of the Space Shuttle Discovery, and the last of 7 shuttle missions to carry a Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS). This was the first shuttle mission controlled from the new mission control center room at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. STS-70 was also the first flight of the new Block 1 orbiter main engine, designed to improve both engine performance and safety. The mission was launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on 13 July 1995, only six days after the landing of sister ship Atlantis, marking the fastest turnaround between flights in the history of the program.

STS-67 was a human spaceflight mission using Space Shuttle Endeavour that launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on 2 March 1995.
Astro-2 was the second dedicated Spacelab mission to conduct astronomical observations in the ultraviolet spectral regions. It consists of three unique instruments – the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT), the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT) and the Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE). These experiments will select targets from a list of over 600 and observe objects ranging from some inside the solar system to individual stars, nebulae, supernova remnants, galaxies and active extragalactic objects. This data supplemented data collected on the Astro-1 mission flown on STS-35 in December 1990 aboard Columbia.

Astro-2 is the second dedicated Spacelab mission to conduct astronomical observations in the ultraviolet spectral regions. It consists of three unique instruments - the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT), the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT) and the Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE). These experiments will select targets from a list of over 600 and observe objects ranging from some inside the solar system to individual stars, nebulae, supernova remnants, galaxies and active extragalactic objects. This data will supplement data collected on the Astro-1 mission flown on STS-35 in December 1990 aboard Columbia.

Nearly 30 experiments in materials processing were conducted with nine different types of science facilities. DARA provided the TEMPUS, flying for first time on IML-2, designed to allow study of solidification of materials from liquid state in a containerless environment. Solidification phenomena are of great interest to science and also used in many industrial processes. Science teams detected for first time a phase in a nickel-niobium sample that is masked by other forces on Earth.

STS-62-A was a planned Space Shuttle mission to deliver a reconnaissance payload (Teal Ruby) into polar orbit. It was expected to use Discovery. It would have been the first manned launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The mission designation, 62-A, meant: 6=fiscal year 1986, 2=Vandenberg (1=Kennedy Space Center), and A=first flight in that fiscal year.

The destruction of Challenger and subsequent halt of the Space Shuttle Program led to the cancellation of the mission.

This is one of a set of three patches created based on the concept artwork for the missions. They may be unauthroized reproductions.

STS-62-A was a planned Space Shuttle mission to deliver a reconnaissance payload (Teal Ruby) into polar orbit. It was expected to use Discovery. It would have been the first manned launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The mission designation, 62-A, meant: 6=fiscal year 1986, 2=Vandenberg (1=Kennedy Space Center), and A=first flight in that fiscal year.

The destruction of Challenger and subsequent halt of the Space Shuttle Program led to the cancellation of the mission.

This is one of a set of three patches created based on the concept artwork for the missions. They may be unauthroized reproductions.

STS-62-A was a planned Space Shuttle mission to deliver a reconnaissance payload (Teal Ruby) into polar orbit. It was expected to use Discovery. It would have been the first manned launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The mission designation, 62-A, meant: 6=fiscal year 1986, 2=Vandenberg (1=Kennedy Space Center), and A=first flight in that fiscal year.

The destruction of Challenger and subsequent halt of the Space Shuttle Program led to the cancellation of the mission.

This is one of a set of three patches created based on the concept artwork for the missions. They may be unauthroized reproductions.

Determine the arcing and current collection behavior of different types, sizes and shapes of solar cells, solar modules and spacecraft materials. The Solar Array Module Plasma Interaction Experiment (SAMPIE) investigated the plasma interactions of high voltage space power systems with the space plasma in low Earth orbit (LEO).

STS-61-F was a United States Space Shuttle mission planned to launch on 15 May 1986 using Challenger. It was cancelled after Challenger was destroyed earlier that year. he main objective of STS-61-F was to deploy the Ulysses solar probe, which would travel to Jupiter and use it as a gravitational slingshot in order to be placed into polar orbit around the Sun. This mission would have marked the first use of the Centaur-G liquid-fueled payload booster, which would also be used on the subsequent mission to send the Galileo probe in orbit around Jupiter.

STS-57 was a Shuttle-Spacehab mission of Space Shuttle Endeavour that launched 21 June 1993 from Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

During the course of the ten-day flight, the astronauts successfully conducted scores of biomedical and materials sciences experiments inside the pressurized SPACEHAB module. Two astronauts participated in a spacewalk and EURECA (European Retrievable Carrier) was retrieved by the crew and stowed inside Endeavour’s payload bay. EURECA was deployed from the Space Shuttle Atlantis in the summer of 1992 and contains several experiments to study the long-term effects of exposure to microgravity.

The five stars and shape of the robotic arm of the insignia symbolize the flight's numerical designation in the Space Transportation System's mission sequence.

The Consortium for Materials Development in Space (CMDS) based at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), has developed the Organic Separation (ORSEP) payload for flight on STS-57. The UAH CMDS is a NASA CCDS.

ORSEP offers the commercial and scientific communities the opportunity to separate cells and particles by a mechanistic technique unavailable on Earth. The potential commercial value of separations includes the opportunity to culture cell subpopulations on return to Earth, the revelation that subpopulations exist and as is the case for protein crystal growth in space, in scientific study of the purified samples.

The California Student Get Away Special Payload GAS-450, recently went into orbit on the STS-57
Mission, Space Shuttle Endeavour, 21 June 1993, 6:14 Ah4 and landed on the 29 June 1993 at Kennedy
Space Center (KSC). Fifty students (Figure 1, Ages 7 to 18) from 13 California Central Coast Schools
and one in San Francisco designed and built 13 active experiments (6 modules) for this mission.
Preliminary analysis of our completely reusable payload bus system indicated that the structure, power
system, microprocessor and sensor systems in each experiment module worked flawlessly. The
experiments themselves performed exceptionally well with a 60 5% success ratio. The students are
thoroughly documenting their own experiments and results via a standard research paper guideline
generated by the GAS450 technical staff. If you would like to review any one or all of these papers (13)
please write to the SIL address above. Lessons learned (program management and technical) a=
documented at the end of the paper. If any other organization needs payload/experiment development or
NASA documentation assistance, then please contact us. We can help make your idea a space tested
reality.

The payload structure mounted four Nikon F3 cameras (see below) each equipped with an 85mm lens. Two cameras were loaded with color film, one with positive (slide)film and one with negative (print) film. The other two cameras were loaded with high resolution black & white film and infrared black & white film . The exact combinations of film, filter and aperture were based on extensive testing done by the Can Do Technical team with the advice and consultation of the expert staff at the National Geographic Society in Washington DC.